Thursday, 18 May 2017

White album up next?

"The Beatles" aka "The White Album".

In a radio interview on BBC Radio 6 Music, Giles Martin seemingly let it slip that The Beatles' self titled "White album" will be next up to get the remix treatment. (Listen to radio interview here, the Giles Martin section starts at around 1:32:20 into the broadcast).

Ultimate Classic Rock picked up on this, and in their article they published the following quotes from the radio interview with Martin: "The White Album, which is the next release – that is where they started becoming indulgent. There are 70 takes of ‘Sexy Sadie,’ for instance. The efficiency went slightly out the window. There’s a lot of stuff. So, it’s getting the balance right."

So, did he mean that the White album was the next release from The Beatles back in the day (it wasn't, the "All You Need Is Love" single, the "Hello Goodbye" single and the double EP "Magical Mystery Tour" was) - or that it will be the upcoming, next release from Apple/The Beatles?

And if the latter is what happens, whether or not we are going to be treated to another super deluxe multidisc extravaganza for the "White album" release remains to be seen. There are of course session outtakes from the recording of the album available, as well as a set of very interesting acoustic or semi-acoustic demos taped at George Harrison's house and elsewhere. Some of these have already been part of the nineties "Anthology" album series, but there's plenty more where they came from.

After publication of this post, Giles Martin tweeted this:

Just to confirm..I said the White Album is the next Beatles album. I promise that I'm not working on it. Enjoy Sgt Pepper first! X https://t.co/Eo3JIltqfl

I wouldn't be surprised if there were more of the remix/deluxe albums to come. For one thing there's the 50-year copyright thing - use 'em or lose 'em. But also, the Kinfauns demos are one of the great unreleased archives Apple have. I strongly suspect they have more than is publicly known, so why not get some of it out there and make some money?

i think they will follow the original release date from sgt pepper to let it be and then please plase me to revolver, to coincide with 50th or 60th anniversary. one or two albums per year, depends on the year, of course.my guess is: 2017: sgt pepper, mmt. 2018: white album. 2019: abbey road. 2020: let it be (with film?). 2021 or 2022 maybe live stuff, home demos, rehearsals, 2023: ppm and wtb.. and so on.

"Actually Kinfauns demos are owned by the Harrison State. Apple is hands off these. Doubt they'll release them soon."

I never knew that. I can see why George's estate might own the tapes recorded in his home (not that they'd necessarily block their release - after all, several have already appeared on Anthology), but I think there are probably more in the vaults.

"Kinfauns Demos" appears to be a catch-all for any and all acoustic demos made in the run-up to the White album, not necessarily restricted to those recorded at Kinfauns. It's certainly been speculated that at least some of John and Paul's were recorded privately by them.

This is on Beatles Bible, for instance, "It is possible that not all of the demos were recorded at Kinfauns, and it has been speculated that some were recorded alone by the songs' composers."

Who owns them or has custody of the originals, I don't know of course! Anyway, they should be polished up and issued. Could be a classic album - official White Album uplugged.

Apple has been anniversary-focused for quite some time:• 2011 was the 15th anniversary of Anthology, and it came to iTunes (with Long And Winding Road corrected)• 2012 was the 35th anniversary of Magical Mystery Tour, and it got a blu-ray• 2013 was the 20th anniversary of Live At The BBC, and it got remastered with a second volume• 2014 was the 50th anniversary of the US debut, and we got the US albums set• 2015 was the 15th anniversary of "1" being at the top of the charts, and we got "1+"• 2016 was the 50th anniversary of the end of touring, and we got Eight Days A Week film and soundtrack• 2017 is the 50th anniversary of Sgt. Pepper, and we get the box set

It makes sense, then, that the White Album be the focus of 2018, and Abbey Road of 2019.

What will be really interesting is 2020; both Paul and Ringo have said repeatedly they support the release of Let It Be again, but Paul also said that the vote to release it must be unanimous. If Yoko Ono decides to keep with the idea this is "Paul's version of The Beatles" and it doesn't make John or George look good, we could see it skipped for some other release.

As for 2021, it would be the 45th anniversary of Rock And Roll Music, and Capitol may suggest to Apple it's about time to get those compilations that sold so well back out there, even if digitally….

The Anthology version was the take reproduced and embellished by Phil Spector (on the original Let It Be album and the 'Blue' album), but in its raw and original state. It's actually one of the worst takes of the song, and there was no way it could have been released on the 'Let It Be' album (and not as a single in the USA). The bass playing is atrocious, and there is no organ solo from Billy Preston (Paul just repeats the 'many times I've been alone' in an Elvis impersonation type voice). The versions on the Let It Be film/ 1+ DVD and the 'Naked' album are far superior versions of The Long And Winding Road. Macca probably put it on Anthology to say Spector wasn't needed. But he was where that take of the song was concerned...

In the Anthology 3 booklet notes, it says "The Long And Winding Road" is the film take. However, as the broadcast episode demonstrated, Paul has a vocal over the middle bit where he says the lyrics — and that's not on the Anthology 3 discs. (It's right before the "But still it leads me back…" bit.) The iTunes edition fixed that by putting the vocals back in to match the film.

That's the correction I noticed.

Sometimes it takes the Internet to learn these things. I knew that the re-issue of Live At The BBC had removed the filter that flattened the songs to make them cleaner, but it took the Internet to point out that the dialogue bits on disc 2 had one part swapped out for another's. :-P

Follow by Email

Twitter

Facebook

Posters etc

About the awful

Roger Stormo

About Us

This website is all about The Beatles and the individual members of The Beatles. It is kept by Roger Stormo, who has been associated with the Norwegian Beatles fan club, "Norwegian Wood", since 1980.
Feel free to quote from the site, but please give me credit and a link back to the original item.
This is not a news site per se, but if we hear about something that has yet to be reported by other Beatles news services, we tend to write about it. Apart from that, we will write stuff about the Beatles on an irregular basis at the whim of the author. A lot of our readers arrive at specific articles from internet searches or references to this site from forums and other Beatles sites. If you did, we encourage you to click here to access the main page, and also to indulge in our archives - you may find other posts that are interesting. You may also subscribe to news from the site and have each new issue delivered to your rss feed reader.

This is not a begging letter... but feel free to support me by donating money! It'll keep me in business... Or just buy a t-shirt! Or take a look at my Amazon wish list...
If you have Beatles related product to push, feel free to send us a copy, the address is:
Roger Stormo
Baglergata 21B
NO-2004 Lillestrøm
NORWAY
email: roger.stormo@gmail.com
We can't promise that your product will be featured on the site, but it stands a better chance than the ones we don't get...